Paul Bettany has built an oeuvre on the effectiveness of an icy gaze, but he’ll be stretching those acting muscles and unnerving people long-distance in his next project. Per Variety, Bettany has signed on to play Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a. the Unabomber, in Manifesto. The Discovery Channel series will follow Kaczynski’s downfall as he is tracked by FBI profiler Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald. Kaczynski is infamous for his role as one of the most significant domestic terrorists in U.S. history, spending years planting and mailing bombs in a campaign against modern technology. His manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, was crucial in his identification and capture. Manifesto marks Paul Bettany’s first major TV role and comes courtesy of a producing team that includes Kevin Bacon, because that’s a guy who loves a good FBI yarn.
